tearing 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of tearingnext
as in cutting

Related Words

Relevance

tearing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of tear
1
as in ripping
to cause (something) to separate into jagged pieces by violently pulling at it angrily tore the letter to shreds

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in yanking
to separate or remove by forceful pulling tore the book from his hand

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in hurrying
to proceed or move quickly she tore out of the room as soon as the phone started to ring

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tearing
Adjective
This monitor rocks a zippy 165Hz refresh rate, a 1ms response time, and AMD FreeSync Premium, which effectively eliminates blur, tearing, and stuttering. — Kelsey Fogarty, PC Magazine, 26 Oct. 2026 By acting as a biomechanical bridge, soft enough for muscle, strong enough for rigid parts, the tendons eliminate the tearing and detachment problems that have plagued previous designs. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 1 Dec. 2025
Verb
Matas Buzelis beat him to the punch, tearing the ball out of the air and jamming it back into the basket with a dunk. — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026 Watkins, who won the AP Player of the Year as a sophomore after tearing her ACL in the NCAA Tournament, is raring to go after sitting out last year while recovering from the injury. — ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026 Gorden missed Angel City’s inaugural season after tearing her left anterior cruciate ligament in preseason training. — Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026 In 1980, to better understand this phenomenon, the mathematician and economist Graciela Chichilnisky turned to topology, an area of math in which shapes are considered equivalent if one can be stretched into another without tearing. — Alex Stone, Quanta Magazine, 26 Oct. 2026 But this May, less than four years later, it was stripped for parts worth millions and crushed, the steel teeth of an excavator tearing through its fuselage at a facility on the outskirts of Phoenix. — Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2026 Kyrie Irving had 15 points for Dallas in his first regular-season game since tearing his left ACL in March 2025. — CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026 This is music pulled clingwrap-tight, close to tearing, around dozens of little thoughts. — Alex Robert Ross, Pitchfork, 20 Oct. 2026 See a health care provider for ongoing vulvar itching, pain, tearing or skin changes rather than repeatedly treating the symptoms as an infection. — Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 20 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tearing
  1. penetrating
  2. ripping
  3. yanking
  4. hurrying
  5. biting
  6. grabbing
  7. speeding
  8. stinging
Adjective
  • There are two types of TBIs, penetrating and non-penetrating.
    — Connie Etermadi, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
  • One spring day in Paris many years ago, my wife, Diana, a most penetrating photographer, capable of seeing like no one else, decided, as an experiment, to walk across the city blindfolded.
    — Hisham Matar, Harper's Magazine, 2 Aug. 2024
Definition of penetrating
Verb
  • Other aircraft may go on to fly for other airlines, with potential carriers ripping out Spirit's tight 28-inch seat pitch for something roomier.
    — Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Instead, her attackers started ripping her gear off her body – her camera bag, her lenses, her pouch containing her American passport, credit cards, documents and other items.
    — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of ripping
Verb
  • Shortly after, the video shows the same officer yanking him to the ground, punching and kicking him.
    — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Zabransky was the first person to reach Rabb in the end zone, yanking him into the air for a bear hug.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of yanking
Verb
  • Before hurrying away from his tent on the beach, Saleh was asked what would happen if US support never came.
    — Nic Robertson, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Corle continued flagging and minutes later McCoy was back on the trail, hurrying to catch up.
    — Jan Thacker, Outdoor Life, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of hurrying
Adjective
  • Her version is louder and more biting, but never at the sacrifice of the track’s spirit.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2026
  • In 2022, Lee County’s Mosquito Control District decided to try aiming radiation at mosquitoes instead, specifically the biting, disease-carrying kind — Aedes aegypti.
    — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of biting
Verb
  • San Martin was also tasked with grabbing the cash tray, which contained $17,000.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026
  • The question of how law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services will be affected by these potential tax cuts have fueled headline-grabbing debates across the state.
    — Marissa J. Lang, NPR, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of grabbing
Verb
  • The company said the new money will go toward hiring engineers and salespeople as well as speeding up product development.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The interaction stems from a traffic stop last November that resulted in Kirkpatrick being charged with five traffic citations, including reckless endangerment, speeding and eluding police, according to a report from The Tuscaloosa Thread.
    — Justin Williams, New York Times, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of speeding
Adjective
  • Mungiu craftily plants the seed of this crisis in his opening shot, set in the aftermath of a stinging act of parental discipline.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026
  • At an early New York screening, Douglas recalls Wall Street traders being stunned by the film’s stinging accuracy.
    — Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of stinging

Browse Nearby Words

tearful
tearing
tearing down
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Tearing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tearing. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of Pyrrhic

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All